Written by Scott Swerbinsky

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It was an entertaining card from start to finish last night at UFC 64, including two excellent title fights in the co-main event features. A couple rising stars in the mixed martial arts world took big steps forward, and Spoon is here with the recap on what went down. Last night in Las Vegas two new champs were crowned. One title fight went how I thought it would and the other was extremely entertaining.

In the main event Rich Franklin was destroyed by the Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The fight ended in a first round KO. Silva was simply spectacular.

The match was all standup. They traded shots for thirty seconds and then Silva got Franklin in a Muay Thai clinch and it was a thing of beauty. With both of his hands clinched together behind Rich’s head Anderson went to town with knees to the body and head. It was a brutal beating. The strikes were vicious and pinpoint. It was the most dominating performance I have seen in a long time. Franklin’s nose was noticeably out of place after the fight.

In the co-feature Sean Sherk became the Lightweight champion with a dominating 5 round decision over Kenny Florian.

Sherk worked his ground and pound to perfection. He was able to outmuscle Florian and dominated with wrestling and elbows. Sherk was actually a bloody mess due to a huge gash from an elbow but it was on the top of his head and wasn’t going to stop the fight. All five rounds were pretty similar, they started on their feet, Sherk would take him down and beat him up. Florian was able to land some good kicks while standing but we was just overpowered. Sean Sherk is a ripped up freak of nature and it amazes me how this dude can only weigh 155 pounds.

Full results:

-Anderson Silva def. Rich Franklin by TKO (referee stoppage due to strikes) at 3:59 of Round 1 to win the UFC Middleweight Title

-Sean Sherk def. Kenny Florian by unanimous decision to win the vacant UFC Lightweight Title

-Jon Fitch def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by unanimous decision

-Carmelo Marrero def. Cheick Kongo by split decision

-Spencer Fisher def. Dan Lauzon by TKO (referee stoppage due to strikes) at 4:38 of Round 1

-Clay Guida def. Justin James by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:42 of Round 2

-Yushin Okami def. Kalib Starnes by TKO (referee stoppage due to strikes) at 1:40 of Round 3

-Kurt Pellegrino def. Junior Assuncao by submission (rear naked choke) at 2:04 of Round 1


Overall, it was a damn good show. All the fights were very entertaining. None was more impressive than the main event.

Anderson Silva showed everyone he was for real. I can’t wait to see who he fights next because I have a feeling all of his fights will live up to expectations. Last night’s sure did.